How To Make a 2D+Depth (Wowvx) Frame

In this tutorial we will make a simple 2D+Depth (formerly known as Wowvx) frame.

A 2D+Depth image is simply a picture with two frames side by side, the left one being the original picture, the right one being the depth map.

The picture above is our original. It is a 600x479 .jpg. This is an arbitrary picture I found off the web.

We open the picture in Photoshop, "Save As", and name it something - this will be our depth map.

First, we want to set the document colors to grayscale. Click on the little arrow in the cirle by the "color" tab (screen01) and change the colors to grayscale.

When you create a depth map, it is basically a picture that is only composed of grayscale colors, black being the furthest away, and white being the closest.

Since everything over the horizon in this picture is farthest away, we will make it all black. Change the color on the grayscale color to black, then create a black rectangle over the horizon.

It should now look like this (screen02):

The beach is pretty much a continuous gradient from far to near, so over the beach we will create a rectangle, with the top being a dark gray, and we will have that gradient to white at the bottom of the rectangle.

Make sure you are on the layer that has the original picture, then use the gradient tool. You want to change the primary color box to a dark gray (I used 80%), and you want the secondary color box to be white. (screen03)

Note: If you can't find the gradient tool, click on the "Paint Bucket" tool and you will see it there.

You're picture should now look like this (screen05):

That will be our depth map for the sunset picture. What it is saying is that the black area (over the horizon) is the farthest away, and the beach at it farthest is dark gray - which is a little closer than the sky, and then the beach gradually gets closer until you get to the bottom of the screen where it is white (closest).

But wait! We aren't done. Now we look at the dimensions of the original picture. It is 600x479. Since our final picture will include the original and the depth map, side by side, we will set its dimensions to 1200x479, so create a new picture and set the dimensions to that. Then paste in both the original picture and the depth map and you will have a picture that looks like this (screen06):

Congratulations! This is a 2D+depth (wowvx) frame which can now be displayed on an autostereoscopic monitor!